If Only
by UTAnimeGamer20
Summary: If only Sonic hadn't gotten in the way.. Then things would've been different.


If only the mission hadn't botched.

If only Sonic had let Tails do his own thing.

If only Sonic hadn't gotten in the way.

If only...

Sonic paced between the door that led to Tails's hospital room and the section of chairs they were given to wait for Tails to wake up. They hadn't been allowed in to Tails's room. His wounds had been too severe; it would be a atrocious idea to let them in. After all, nobody wanted to cause Tails any more pain.  
Sonic had been a mess since Tails had gone into his state. Sonic kept blaming himself for what happened, even though his friends kept telling him, "It wasn't your fault." "It was just an accident" and, "It could've happened to anyone."  
Sonic kept slowly torturing himself, continuously telling himself that it was his fault that Tails had gotten hurt; it was his own fault that he got in the way of Tails.  
Sonic had barely slept, ate, or taken care of himself since Tails was transmitted to the hospital- approximately 43 days. Whenever he'd eat, it would be something you'd eat as a snack. Whenever he'd sleep, he'd be asleep for minutes before waking up in alarm, dread, and waves of anxiety.  
He was not fine. He was not strong, even if that was what he promised Tails that he would be.

 _Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, and Tails had gone to defeat another one of Eggman's robots. It shouldn't have been too heavy of a task. After all, they had done it countless amounts of times before. The robots weren't so sinister that they annihilated the Sonic team, but tough enough that they were given a challenge. After a while, it just seemed like Eggman sent the robots out just for fun. The robots never did anything after a point.._  
 _But, that quickly changed._  
 _Eggman sent out his biggest, most dangerous robot he had built at the time. The Sonic team, seeing the robot up close, were quite shocked to see that this robot wasn't as simple and naive as the others. This one was much sinister._  
 _But, like most other robots, it could easily be shut down by the control panel inside of Eggman's base._  
 _Tails went to do it himself, but Sonic wasn't too fond of the idea. He went after Tails, trusting the idea that Tails hadn't started trying to shut the robot down._  
 _Sonic got to the control room. Tails had already started to work on shutting the robot down, even though he had to go through an imposing amount of wires to get to the controls._  
 _That was not how it was before..._  
 _Sonic didn't question how Tails got through it without falling onto a jumble of wires; after all, it wasn't the important part. Sonic tried to get through the massive amount of wires, but he soon felt himself falling.._  
 _Falling..._  
 _And he landed on the cold, hard ground. He wasn't tangled up in any wires. He started to wonder why this was until he heard it._  
 _Tails's cry of pain and agony and the sparks hitting against fragile skin._  
 _Sonic scampered towards the now hurt, bleeding, and almost conscious-lost Tails. Sonic picked him up and rushed him out._  
 _The team stopped fighting to go and aid Tails. But, even with their efforts, they couldn't heal him._  
 _With a half conscious look, Tails glanced at Sonic._  
 _"T-Tails!" Sonic cried out,using all attempts to keep who he called his brother awake. Alive._  
 _Tails stopped him before he could move anymore. "S-Sonic.." His voice was a hushed whisper, almost inaudible. "P-Promise me..th-that.." He could barely manage the words out._  
 _Amy was covering her mouth, silently crying. Knuckles was still trying to keep Tails awake. Sonic just stared at Tails. Stared at what he had caused._  
 _Tails finally mustered out the words. "P-Promise me you-u'll st-tay st-trong..?"_  
 _Sonic instantly nodded, not entirely sure what Tails meant. However, he was willing to make promises for his brother._  
 _"I-I promise, Tails.."_  
 _That was the last thing Tails heard before he lost consciousness._

Sonic looked over at his friends that had stayed with him through all of it. Knuckles was up, as per usual. Amy was trying to get some sleep. Shadow was talking with Rouge about what happened, while Silver and Blaze silently sat, probably contemplating which emotion they felt the most about the current situation.  
Sonic sighed, finally sitting down after countless hours of pacing and thinking.  
Knuckles looked over at Sonic, seeing how fatigued the Blue Blur was. Knuckles sighed, knowing just how broken Sonic was. After all, the brother he had worked so hard to protect was unconscious, but fighting for his life. It had left an emotional wound on Knuckles, but he could see just how much it broke Sonic. The speedy, cocky Blue Blur everyone had come to admire had just..stopped.  
Knuckles looked back over at Sonic, finding out that Sonic had dozed off in the chair. Knuckles shook his head slightly, going back to his position in the chair.  
It was going to be a long night...

"You are free to see him.."  
Sonic was in Tails's room as soon as he heard that phrase. Everyone sat in the lobby. They were letting Sonic gave his moment alone with Tails.  
Tails was laying in the bed, multiple machines hooked up to him. IVs were stuck into his arms, a heart monitor hooked up to his chest, while a breathing mask occupied his mouth and nose.  
Tears started rolling down Sonic's face, more so when he saw how peaceful Tails looked. Tails looked as if nothing could bother him. Like everything was okay.  
But everything was not okay.  
Sonic took a seat next to Tails, grabbing Tails's hand gently, as so not to hurt him. He stared at Tails and remembered everything that happen.  
And Sonic lost it.  
He started sobbing, hiding his face in his hands. He was crying because he had nearly killed Tails. He was crying because he didn't protect his brother. He was crying because he had failed...  
After Sonic stopped crying, he grabbed Tails's hand weakly, a broken look in Sonic's eyes.  
"...I'm sorry I let you down, Tails," he spoke quietly.  
"If only I were a better brother.."


End file.
